The Scottish Government

The Scottish Oil Fund should go forward, after being spoken about for years. As Churchill once said. " Action this day" Go for it John!! Why not also include a Scottish Renewable Energy Fund by using Licenses, to by charged for the developement of Wind, Wave, and Tidal power, with the equipment being built in the possibly soon to be redundant Clyde Shipyards, thereby retaining and increasing the skilled workforce to build the hardware for these renewable energy systems. This can also be, expanded to re generate the Rural economies around Kishorn, Port Avadie, Macrahanish, Nigg, and Ardersier, not forgetting Arnish at Stornoway. From all these deep water points the hardware can be shipped worlwide to generate the cash for the Independant Scottish Economy.

all for it john and about time too, it can only be good for us as a country if we dont put things like this in place how can we be possibly be taken seriously as a nation

There is no need for it as it would be squandered by politicians trying to persuade us into an independent banana republic.

Whilst I strongly oppose independence, I am a stong advocate of devolution and that such a fund would reflect the dignity and contribution of Scotland to the UK. John Swinney on the radio this morning noted that states such as Alberta and Alaska have similar schemes for that state, within a larger country. So, we need to continue with a stong voice on such a matter.

An Oil fund for Scotland? At last some common sense, why was this never done before? Roll on Independence.

I find this oil fund a good idea as the Scotland National Government Statistics site says we already recieve this.
So start saving what we are already get it makes sense
Cut some Scottish and National government waste out and we could do very well .

On paper, this sounds like a very good idea, but I have some big questions about this:

If over 30 years, the UK Government has raised £270bn in oil revenue, this equates to £9bn per year.

On the other hand, Scotland receives over £30bn per year from the UK Treasury. Therefore if we were to set up this "oil fund", we would still need to find over £21bn per year to cover current spending commitments. Were Scotland to have control of oil revenues, there would presumably be a cut in the amount we receive from the UK Treasury (assuming we are still part of the UK.) Would that then give us less money than we have at the moment?

As an independent country, would we be able to raise over £21bn/year from the rest of the economy?

30 years ago this would have been a good idea. Now, I'm not so sure...

Presumably the fund will be creamed off the revenue from the oil and invested in .. what? How much income from the fund be available on a day to day basis to contribute towards services, infrastructure and capital projects?

Adjusted for inflation the tax income for 30 years would contribute less than one third of block grant from the exchequer on a yearly basis, so how much of this would be diverted into the fund, and how much will have to raised from general taxation to make up the difference? Further how is the current system of pension payments, income support, and unemployment benefit etc going to be funded?

Given that the amount of oil available for extraction depends on the market price, i.e. at $70 dollars a barrel would suggest a profitable extraction level much lower than a $150 a barrel level. What are your assumptions on oil price that lead to your conclusions on likely longevity of the fields?

Dode1

Sir are you suggesting that Scotland takes all oil revenue tax from the whole of the UK population?
At this present time from Scottish Government expenditure site section 5 states
we already recieve 8.9 % of the revenue from national taxation of oil.This is worked out by population formula
This present formula is as fair as it could be in my opinion.
Only with independence could this be changed.
So can I ask how you could change this present system.
I could see problems ahead if you did ,first you would have to take other financial payments made to Scotish people from national taxation ,like pensions etc into account.
You just cannot always take the cream off the pudding

At last, a real Scottish government, standing up for the interests of this country.
The careening carping of the Unionist establishment, who would try to con us that oil is, for Scotland alone, an insurmountable block to a healthy & strong economy, are the same voices that told us the oil would run out in the 1970's and turn Scotland into 'another Bangladesh'.
The Unionist politicians who concealed the vast wealth and transformation of our peoples life chances 40 years ago must not be allowed to get away with it a second time.
As the UK skids towards bankruptcy (again) expect the Oil issue to command centre stage during the independence referendum.
Bring it on!